A lot of exciting things happened in the last few weeks I was ‘offline’. I came back recently from an amazing trip back in London and I have also turned another year older. The work trip to London was rather short, but good enough to indulge in the seasonal produce and fresh berries. The only regret I have about not living there permanently anymore is the inability to convert all those fresh produce into something delicious in the oven. We enjoyed the tomatoes and berries as they were, but I was craving for a tomato basil quiche. A homemade quiche. Not long after I was back that was what I baked.
I am fussy when it comes to quiches, or tart in general. Soggy bottom is an absolute turn-off, and the pastry case needs to be deep to contain all the exciting stuff; creamy eggs whipped with a splash of milk, garden vegetables and in this case succulent ripe cherry tomatoes that turn every so wrinkly upon baking. I have used The Cooking Doctor cake pan for experiment, it does not come with removable bottom yet I managed to transfer the baked quiche out of the pan intact. Happy dance!
A simple tip on getting the pastry case crisp with no soggy bottom: use the blind baking technique. I baked the pastry (without filling) for 10 minutes, with additional weight of ceramic beans to ensure the pastry bottom does not puff up. Then another 5 minutes after removing the beans, and prior to pouring the filling. All these technicalities are worth it when this delicious tomato basil quiche was done. It was aromatic, and delicious enough to curb my craving.
Tomato Basil Quiche
Prep time
20 mins
Cook time
1 hour
Total time
1 hour 20 mins
A delicious tomato basil quiche.
Serves: 7 inch pan
Ingredients
- For the pastry:
- 120g unsalted butter
- 240g spelt flour ( you can also use plain flour)
- a pinch of salt
- 2-3 tbsp icy cold water
- For the filling:
- 1 large red onion, sliced thinly
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 5 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 200g cherry tomatoes ( whole)
- a few sprigs of basil leaves, torn coarsely
- 1 tbsp paprika
- salt to season
- ½ tsp italian herb seasoning
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare the pastry crust using food processor or hand. Rub the cold butter into flour mixed with salt, until bread crumbs texture is formed.
- Add water as needed to form dough, do not knead too much otherwise the dough becomes elastic and not crumbly.
- Pat the dough into a circle and cover with cling film. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the filling.
- In a saucepan, heat the olive oil.
- Saute the onion until it caramelises and add the garlic. Saute for few more minutes.
- Whisk the eggs with paprika, herbs, milk and salt. Add the caramelised onions and everything else in the pan, including the oil. Set aside.
- Take the pastry out and roll into 1.5 cm circle, large enough to cover the 7 inch cake pan and the sides.
- Layer a parchment paper on top and fill the ceramic beans as weight. This will ensure the pastry remains flat and not puffed up upon baking.
- Bake the pastry crust at preheated oven of 180C for 10 minutes.
- Remove the paper and ceramic beans, bake again for another 5 minutes.
- Take the pastry case out of the oven.
- Pour the milk-egg mix into the pastry.
- Scatter the basil leaves and arrange the whole cherry tomatoes throughout.
- Bake the quiche for another 40 minutes until the top is slightly wobbly.
- Slice the quiche into wedges when it is warm.
